Window Film is a very effective way to reduce solar heat.

Window Film can reduce solar heat by as much as 82%

Sun control films are designed to reduce solar heat by reflecting the sun's energy. One of the most popular products we can recommend for this is Solar Gard® TrueVue 15 with 80% solar heat reduction. True Vue 15 combines excellent vision, good glare reduction with high heat reduction. Another effective product is Silver 20 which rejects 78% of solar heat. It is often expected that such high performance would be associated with a high price but this is not so. Silver 20 is modestly priced because of its simple construction. Here is a list of options;

• Extra Dark reflective - TrueVue 5 - Seriously dark, mirror exterior
• Standard reflective - Silver 20 - a premium sputter coated aluminium film
• Alternate reflective - Sterling 20 - a spectrally selective sputter coated film
• Dark reflective - TrueVue 15 or Slate 10 - darker reflective film with a non reflective inner coat
• Light Reflective - Sterling 40 - a spectrally selective sputter coated film
• Light Reflective - Sterling 50 - a spectrally selective sputter coated film

Does it have to be reflective?

The best films for stopping heat are reflective. There are some impressive semi-reflective films, such as Slate 20.
Here are some options:

• Dark - Quantum QSQ10 - multiple metal layers for heat & glare control and colour stability
• Medium - Slate 20 - semi-reflective film with a non reflective inner coat
• Medium - TrueVue 30 - some-reflective film with a non reflective inner coat
• Light - Slate 30 - semi-reflective film with a non reflective inner coat. Still available but we mostly use TV30
• Very Light - Ecolux 70 - super-low reflection, excellent winter performance
• Extra light - LX70 - virtually transparent but blocks 95% infra-red heat (55% of Total Solar Eneregy)

What about non-reflective dark window film?

Non-reflective films perform much the same as tinted glass: that is to say, they absorb heat rather than reflect heat. If your only goal is privacy or glare reduction that's fine, but what about for heat control? Well it all depends. If, for example, you were in a large room with the sun falling on you from a window which is some distance away, a non-reflective film will make YOU feel cooler. On the down side, the air-conditioning will have to work just as hard to keep the room from getting hot.

By way of contrast, if you were sitting by the window you would feel the radiant heat from the hot glass and may be no better off than if the glass was clear, apart from the reduced glare. However a reflective film will make a noticeable improvement.

Related Table:

• Performance Comparison Table

The Physics of Windows

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